The Crisis in a Nutshell: Euphemisms and Precedent in Libya

“The implementation of a no-fly zone is complete.” —Defense Secretary Robert Gates

“I don’t believe we should be engaged in a Libyan civil war. American interests are not at stake.” —Richard Lugar, a Republican senator for Indiana

“I’m afraid we could see another Afghanistan or a second Iraq emerging.” —Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

“Our military has a wonderful euphemism called ‘national command authority.’ It’s a legitimate military target. In Libya, Muammar Qaddafi is the national command authority.” —John Bolton, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

“If we tell Qaddafi, ‘Don’t worry, you won’t be removed by force,’ I think that’s very encouraging to Qaddafi.” —Senator John McCain

“The national council rejects any negotiations with Qaddafi or his family.” —Ahmed Khalifa, a spokesman for the Libyan rebels

“Now we’re in this position of having the president of the United States saying Qaddafi must go, but we’re not going to necessarily make him go. And that’s untenable.” —Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota

“We felt it was important for an Arab country to join, and because other Arab countries were not involved militarily, we felt we should.” —General Mubarak al-Khayanin, the Qatari Air Force chief of staff

“I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.” —President Barack Obama

“There’s a precedent now that the world community has set in Libya, and it’s the right one.” —Joe Lieberman, chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee

“We don’t get very hung up on this question of precedent.” —Denis McDonough, deputy national security adviser

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